Fuji the dolphin

Fuji the dolphin

Issei Kato/Reuters

A keeper holds an artificial tail fluke attached to female bottlenose dolphin "Fuji", estimated to be 37-years-old, at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Fuji lost 75 percent of her tail fluke due to an unknown disease in 2002. The dolphin can swim and jump using the artificial tail fluke, which is believed to be the world's first artificial fin for a dolphin, and was developed by veterinarians and Japan's largest tire maker Bridgestone Co., an aquarium official said.

A keeper holds an artificial tail fluke attached to female bottlenose dolphin "Fuji", estimated to be 37-years-old, at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Fuji lost 75 percent of her tail fluke due to an unknown disease in 2002. The dolphin can swim and jump using the artificial tail fluke, which is believed to be the world's first artificial fin for a dolphin, and was developed by veterinarians and Japan's largest tire maker Bridgestone Co., an aquarium official said. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

A keeper holds an artificial tail fluke attached to female bottlenose dolphin "Fuji", estimated to be 37-years-old, at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Fuji lost 75 percent of her tail fluke due to an unknown disease in 2002. The dolphin can swim and jump using the artificial tail fluke, which is believed to be the world's first artificial fin for a dolphin, and was developed by veterinarians and Japan's largest tire maker Bridgestone Co., an aquarium official said.Issei Kato/Reuters